


Double the Fun

by mosylu



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Comedy of Errors, Doppelganger, F/M, Killervibe Week, Mistaken Identity, kissing during said mistaken identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-07 21:23:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20459627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mosylu/pseuds/mosylu
Summary: When a couple of random breaches send Killer Frost and Vibe out to investigate, they're about to run into more than they bargained for.Written for Killervibe Week Day 3: Doppelgangers





	Double the Fun

Cisco breached into the cortex and checked the scanners again. He tapped his earpiece. “Hey, I’m not showing any weird activity anymore. Anything out there?”

“Nothing,” Caitlin reported in his ear. “I’m on my way back.”

“Want a pickup?”

“Nah, I’m close enough.”

“See you in a few.” He shut off his earpiece, which had developed a tendency of buzzing in his ear when he was here at Star Labs. He needed to fix that, he thought absently, and flicked over to the strange satellite readings that had sent Killer Frost and Vibe out on the hunt an hour earlier.

Two breaches, both interdimensional. Caitlin had suggested it was someone dropping in and then out again, but Cisco had pointed out they were three miles and ten minutes apart, and the breach didn’t look like a speedster one. 

But there hadn’t been anything weird at either location, and they hadn’t gotten any bystander reports of suspicious activity. So all there was to do was come back to Star Labs and await mayhem. 

The elevator dinged, and Cisco swung around in his chair to see Caitlin walking in from the hallway, still suited up. “Hey,” he said. “That was fast.”

“We said we were going to rendezvous here.”

“Yeah, but I thought you were further away.”

She studied him in a strange way. “Who were you talking to, the first time we met?” she asked.

He raised his brows. “What are we, reminiscing now? I’d think you’d want to reminisce about someone other than Hartley Rathaway.”

She rolled her eyes. “You never take this seriously.”

Pardon him? Take what seriously? He opened his mouth to ask just that when when she walked up and kissed him. 

His brain went _????!!!!! :D :D !!! ? :)_

She pulled away. “What’s wrong?”

“Uh,” he said in a strangled voice. “What?”

She’d just laid a kiss on him that about boiled his brain out of his skull, and she was asking him what was wrong?

Actually, wrong wasn’t the word, because there’d been nothing wrong with that kiss. It had been one of the better kisses he’d ever gotten. 

She stepped back from him a pace or two, her eyes narrowing. “Are you okay?”

“Just surprised.”

“Surprised?” Her eyes flashed white and she flipped her hands up, a couple of ice daggers growing from her palms.

He scooted backwards hard, barely hearing her say, “My husband has no reason to be surprised when I kiss him. Who are you?”

_"Your what?”_

Abruptly, Cisco registered what he’d missed before. Her suit was all wrong. The star was a smidge smaller, the color a shade or two lighter, the boots only reaching her calf, not all the way to her knee. 

And of course, there was the faint_ off-ness_ of her, the indefinable difference that was the way she vibrated at a subtly different frequency than he did. 

“Well?” she demanded.

“Babe!” a voice called out, and they both whipped around. Somehow Cisco wasn’t surprised to see his doppelganger standing in the doorway.

It was a little more of a surprise to see him clutching his nose as it dripped blood.

Another Caitlin hovered behind him, dressed in the Frost getup. His Caitlin - the star and the color and the boots and most importantly, her frequency were all correct. 

Other Caitlin said, “What happened?” She held up an ice dagger, but not in a threatening way. More like she’d forgotten she was holding it and was waving her hand. “Wait. What are you planning to name our dog?”

“James Tiberius Bark,” Other Cisco said nasally. “And what happened is she punched me in the nose.” He waved at Caitlin. 

“Well, I’m sorry, but you startled me,” she said grumpily. 

Other Caitlin crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at her husband (oh boy, oh damn, Cisco didn’t even know how to process that). “Now you,” she said. “Confirm my identity.”

Other Cisco rolled his eyes. “Fine. What won’t I let you frame and put up in the kitchen?”

She huffed. “A seventeenth century anatomical sketch of the gastrointestinal tract, and I don’t know what your problem is. It’s very interesting and artistic.”

"In the _kitchen?_” Cisco said. “Where people eat?”

Other Cisco pointed at him. “Right?”

“I really don’t see the problem,” said the Caitlin in the doorway. “But James Tiberius Bark is kind of long for a dog’s name, isn’t it? They don’t even recognize words longer than a couple of syllables.”

_“Thank _you,” said the Caitlin next to Cisco. 

“We would call him Jimmy, it wouldn’t be an issue!” Other Cisco said. 

Cisco held up both hands. “Okay! Okay. Identities established - ”

“Not all of us,” Other Caitlin said. 

She narrowed her eyes at Caitlin in the doorway, who said, “Me?” indignantly.

Other Caitlin nodded firmly. “We’re chasing a shapeshifter. And you punched my husband in the nose.” She reached out and nudged her husband’s hand aside. “Let me see. Is it broken?”

“Your _what,_” Caitlin said.

“Explanations in a minute, confirmations right now,” Cisco said. “Uh - ” He thought for a moment. “Caitlin, what did I call Frost at Barry and Iris’s wedding?”

She made a face. “My mean roommate. Um.” She frowned. “What treat of mine are you always eating?”

“Pizza pockets, are you ever going to let that go?" 

Other Caitlin, now calling up a chunk of ice out of thin air, said, "He eats your pizza pockets, too? Ugh, that’s so annoying, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Caitlin said, walking over to a drawer and handing her a towel to wrap around the ice.

“I buy you more,” Other Cisco said, pressing the ice pack to his nose.

“I do too!” Cisco said. 

“Not the point,” Caitlin said primly, joining Cisco at the work station. “Now that we’re all slightly less confused, what’s going on here?”

“Look, we come in peace,” Other Cisco said. “We’re just dipping in to nab a fugitive from our earth and we’ll be out of your admittedly excellent hair.”

“As soon as we figure out where he went,” Other Caitlin muttered. “And who he looks like now.”

Mollified somewhat - he did have excellent hair today - Cisco asked, “Did you drop in about ten minutes after him? Like say, half an hour ago? Our satellites picked up two breaches.”

“Yep, that was us. Satellites?”

Caitlin leaned over. “You said a shapeshifter? Is it Hannibal Bates, by any chance?”

“Yeah, how’d you know? Is his doppelganger still around on this earth?”

Cisco avoided looking at Caitlin. “No, he’s gone, but we had … a few pretty bad experiences with him.”

“Anything we can do to help you nab him,” Caitlin said. “Let us know.”

“That would be great,” Other Caitlin said. “Four minds are better than two, right?”

Other Cisco pulled the ice pack away from his nose, which had stopped bleeding. “Especially when it’s ours. You said you have satellites? That pick up breaches?”

“Hell, yeah, you wanna see?”

“Oh, do I ever.”

* * *

A day later, they waved goodbye as their doubles, along with a firmly detained Hannibal Bates, jumped through a breach back to their earth.

Cisco flopped back into his usual chair. “That was something, wasn’t it?”

“Definitely at least a seven on our weird scale,” Caitlin said.

“I’d go with seven-point-five,” Cisco said. “With the whole being married and stuff.”

She went a little pink but said airily, “I guess that just goes to show how big the multiverse is.”

“Uh-huh.” He studied her. “So, uh, when they first got here …”

“Yes?”

“Why did you punch him in the nose?”

“I told you,” she said, pulling open a drawer to re-fold gauze pads, which was something she did when she wanted to avoid a conversation. “He startled me.”

“How?”

“Does it matter?”

“Well, it’s just that I have this theory and I want to know if I’m right.”

Her eyes slid his way. “What’s that?”

“When she first walked in, your double kissed me hello.”

This time her whole head whipped around. “Wait, she what? She did?”

“Yep. Which makes me think he might have said hello to you the same way.”

She was completely red now, right up to the hairline. “He - he did, in fact.”

“And you punched him?”

“He just up and kissed me without any warning!” she said. “Which, I understand now, is perfectly reasonable since he thought I was his wife, but …” She made a face. “Bad memories.”

“Yeah, I get that, ” Cisco said. Caitlin hadn’t admitted it to him for years, but he’d finally heard all about how Bates-as-Barry had up and laid one on her without any warning, too. “So, uh - ” He toyed with a stray pencil. “If I were to kiss you … would I get a sock in the schnoz?”

She turned and studied him for a long moment. He held his breath.

Not that he’d never had the thought before, but he’d always told himself that they were friends and they worked best that way. But seeing their married doppelgangers had given him a whole lot of food for thought over the past twenty-four hours and change.

He wondered if Caitlin had been thinking along the same lines.

“Well?” he said when she failed to answer.

“Not if you asked me first,” she said. There was a challenge in her eyes.

He rolled his chair right up to hers. “Caitlin?”

“Yes?”

“Can I kiss you?”

She smiled at him. “Please do.”

He leaned over and pressed his lips to hers. She leaned into him, returning the kiss. 

This time, his brain just went :D :D :D

FINIS


End file.
